Hello, I'm susan!
Your expert in creating calm, connected lives and relationships
From Striving to Steady
I didn’t come to this work because parenting felt natural or easy.
I came to it because I was the mother who did everything “right” and still felt like she was falling apart.
I was educated, capable, and deeply invested in my children.
On paper, my life looked beautiful. In my body, it felt exhausting. I managed routines, philosophies, and expectations with care - yet felt no joy, no rest, and no sense of myself.
Over time, I realized something important:
I wasn’t failing at parenting. I was living in a way that wasn’t sustainable.
Life asked me to confront this truth in a very real way-through cancer treatment and profound family challenges-and it changed how I understand what families truly need.
WHAT CHANGED?
The shift didn’t happen by fixing my children. It happened when I began including myself in the family system.
I stopped striving and started listening -to my body, my limits, and what I actually needed.
As I found steadiness inside myself, the energy in our home changed.
Parenting became calmer. Connection deepened. I began to lead instead of react.
Today, my children are thriving, and our relationships are loving and connected- even through the intensity of the teenage years.
My life holds joy, balance, and purpose again.
Children don’t need perfect parents.
They need parents who feel steady inside themselves.
WHY PARENTS TRUST ME:
My work is shaped by years of education in child development, extensive experience teaching children and families, and a deeply integrative perspective grounded in lived experience.
I understand one truth clearly:
Parenting challenges are rarely about technique.
They’re about the parent’s inner world.
I don’t lead through pressure, correction, or urgency. I lead with compassion, because when a parent feels understood and supported, change happens from the inside out. Parents feel called to do things differently. And that kind of internal shift is what children respond to most.
Through Raising by Example, I help parents understand how their own steadiness, presence, and way of moving through the world becomes the model their children learn from. When a parent changes how they show up, children soften, feel safer, and begin to grow into that steadiness themselves.
I don’t teach this work from theory alone. I live it — and I lead families and individuals with the same clarity, gentleness, and respect I once needed myself.
I live it — and I lead families and individuals with the same clarity, gentleness, and
Sharing MY WORK
Besides sharing my work through my signature coaching programs, I am also a best-selling co-author of a parenting book, and have led workshops and education for parents on a range of topics. I share this work through speaking and podcast conversations focused on parenting, family dynamics, and wellbeing.
